Peter the Great of Russia (1672 – 1725)

Peter the Great of Russia was a great master of “walking the talk” and established how effective this management style could be. His success as a pace-setting leader stems from a sincere belief in what he was doing and from the practical skills he had developed.

Peter the Great of Russia (1672 - 17250

Peter the Great was an autocratic ruler. Unlike his predecessors, he was captivated by the democracies, way of life, science, and emergent industries of Western Europe. Peter the Great is considered one of the most effective transformational leaders in Russian history. 

Peter demonstrated behaviors and competencies consistent with effective leadership in modern life, while his darker side was characterized by an unpredictable leader enforced through humiliation and horror. He was also a bit of a purist, turning him into a tyrant.

In present-day workplaces, the dominant leadership style is autocratic. However, this is what businesses entail, people naturally tend to follow strong-willed leaders. Employees want to be led by a leader with vision, conviction, and devotion to the corporate core values. Most employees might not agree with the CEO, however, employees must follow directions as set by him, work hard, and be loyal at all times.

Studies have shown that most CEOs run democratic workplaces with an iron fist, and great companies are run by enlightened “dictators”.  Wadhwa (2016) surmised that business leadership is not a popularity contest. Popularity does not transcend competence. CEOs have failed to provide the transformation leadership required to turn around the fortunes of some great companies. The failures are attributed to sheer incompetence, stringency, nepotism, egotism, and these traits made them out of tune with the changing world around them.

CEOs must listen to the heartbeat of the workplace but must do what is best for the organization, employees, and stakeholders. They have to make tough decisions and take ultimate responsibility when things go wrong. CEOs must shy away from self-aggrandizement, arrogance, and melodrama, and align with the leadership core values of integrity, humility, honesty, empathy, trust, and accountability. When they achieve success, the best leaders share the credit and take all the blame when things go wrong.

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